Global Economy
BMCE Capital Ignites Morocco’s First Futures Market with Landmark MASI20 Trades
<p>BMCE Capital has officially opened Morocco’s long-awaited futures segment, executing the first-ever MASI20 contracts on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The landmark trades position the bank’s investment-banking arm as the primary liquidity provider and signals a new era of sophisticated risk-management tools for Moroccan investors.</p>
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Historic first day
On Monday, BMCE Capital Markets, the brokerage arm of Bank of Africa – BMCE Group, crossed the opening trades of the MASI20 futures, Morocco’s maiden equity-index derivative. The transactions mark the culmination of three years of regulatory design, system upgrades and investor education led by the Casablanca Stock Exchange and market authority AMMC.
Three-pillar execution model
- BMCE Capital Markets acts as official market-maker, continuously quoting two-way prices to guarantee tight bid-ask spreads.
- BMCE Capital Bourse, an accredited dealing member, gives domestic and foreign funds direct access to the new order book.
- BMCE Capital Solutions handles post-trade clearing and settlement through a risk framework benchmarked to EMIR and IOSCO principles.
What changes for investors
Portfolio managers can now hedge positions worth up to 20× the notional value of the underlying MASI index with margin requirements as low as 8 %. The contract multiplier is set at MAD 100 per index point, translating into an approximate contract size of MAD 1.7 million at today’s index level—large enough for institutional use while remaining accessible via block-trading facilities.
Market reaction
Turnover on the futures board reached MAD 42 million in the first session, already accounting for 6 % of total equity-market volume. Implied volatility on the three-month contract opened at 18 %, slightly below the five-year historical average of 21 %, suggesting that investors view the launch as a liquidity enhancer rather than a fear trigger.
Strategic roadmap
Chief Executive Saâd Moussif told Finance Magnates Africa that single-stock futures on three blue-chips will follow in Q4-2026, while options on the MASI20 are slated for 2027. “Our objective is to reach daily open interest of MAD 1 billion within two years, placing Casablanca among the top-five derivatives venues in Africa,” he added.